Saturday mornings were a treat when we were kids. The whole day was reserved for cartoons, because you needed something to talk about back at school on Monday. MASK, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Wacky Races, He-Man, SilverHawks, ThunderCats. A full lineup, back to back, and every single one of them left its mark.
In 1987, kids around the world, myself included, got a glimpse of a brand new cartoon series. Four turtles and a sewer rat who trained them to be ninjas. Named after Renaissance masters, this pizza-loving bunch became a phenomenon almost overnight, and I was right there with the rest of the world, hooked from the start.
Four Brothers, Four Personalities
Picking a favourite was never really possible. Each one was different, which is exactly what made them work as a team.
Leonardo, the fearless leader. Blue mask, twin katanas, disciplined and dedicated to the bushido code.
Raphael, the muscle. Red mask, a pair of sai, hot-headed and fiercely protective of his brothers.
Donatello, the brains. Purple mask, the bo staff, gentle and inventive, always reaching for a scientific answer before a fight.
And Michelangelo. Orange mask, nunchucks, the free spirit and the comic relief that kept the whole team loose.
Four brothers, standing together exactly the way they always should.
They have remade this franchise in animation and in live action more times than anyone can count. But my choice will always be the one I grew up with. The OG series.
Three Years, Four Thousand Dollars
In 2016, DreamEX, under licence from Nickelodeon, started releasing 1/6th scale figures based on that original series. They began with Casey Jones and Shredder, before finally releasing the four Turtles themselves.
Krang joined the crew too, the brain and his hulking android body, rounding out the villains alongside Shredder. Every single time a new one dropped, I was on the pre-order list. No exceptions.
It took three years and around four thousand four hundred Australian dollars to be exact just to bring the whole crew together.
Four brothers, Shredder, Krang, and Casey Jones, and three years of waiting. Worth every bit of it. To this day I am still waiting for them to come out with a 1/6th scale Master Splinter figure.
Happy collecting — if something makes you smile, buy it. You’re investing in your happiness.
Sharing my piece of Neverland…
Figure This Out 